ation and
mathematical investigation. Upon one point, the figure and relations of
the earth, it is evident that not the slightest doubt existed among
them. Nay, it must be added that no learned European ecclesiastic or
statesman could deny the demonstrated truths. Nevertheless, it so fell
out that upon this very point the conflict broke out. In India the
Brahmans had passed through the same trial--for different nations walk
through similar paths--with a certain plausible success, by satisfying
the popular clamour that there was, in reality, nothing inconsistent
between the astronomical doctrine of the globular form and movement of
the earth, and the mythological dogma that it rests upon a succession of
animals, the lowest of which is a tortoise. But the strong common sense
of Western Europe was not to be deluded in any such idle way. It is not
difficult to see the point of contact, the point of pressure with the
Church. The abstract question gave her no concern; it was the
consequences that might possibly follow. The memorable battle was fought
upon the question thus sharply defined: Is the earth a moving globe, a
small body in the midst of suns and countless myriads of worlds, or is
it the central and greatest object in the universe, flat, and canopied
over with a blue dome, motionless while all is in movement around it?
[Sidenote: and the Church is defeated.] The dispute thus definitely put,
its issue was such as must always attend a controversy in which he who
is defending is at once lukewarm and conscious of his own weakness.
Never can moral interests, however pure, stand against intellect
enforcing truth. On this ill-omened question the Church ventured her
battle and lost it.

[Sidenote: The moral impulse.] Though this great conflict is embodied in
the history of Galileo, who has become its historical representative,
the prime moving cause must not be misunderstood. From the Pyrenees had
passed forth an influence which had infected all the learned men of
Western Europe. Its tendency was altogether unfavourable to the Church.
Moreover, the illiterate classes had been touched, but in a different
way. To the first action the designation of the intellectual impulse may
be given; to the latter, the moral. It is to be especially observed that
in their directions these impulses conspired. We have seen how, through
the Saracens and Jews conjointly, the intellectual impulse came into
play. [Sidenote: Origin of the moral imp